Saturday, January 28, 2006

Can a person be reborn in 2 or more bodies?

In the old movie the "Little Buddha", the main character of the story (the little boy) was said to be 1 of the 3 reincarnations of a great Tibetan Lama. Many Buddhists wonder if this kind of thing is possible. Cynical people don't even believe in rebirth, let alone multiple rebirths. Still others form preconceptions about this based only on reading or hearsay.

Brothers & sisters, it is not wise to form conclusions about this topic based on book knowledge or preconceived ideas on the nature of reality. Unless you have attained the supernormal power of seeing into past lives or seen your own true mind (through meditation), you would not really know for sure whether this is possible.

We must look at this from 2 viewpoints - the sentient being & the enlightened being. For sentient beings we can take the simile of a candle being used to lit another candle. At any one time the present candle can be used to lit only one other candle, because this delusional mind still clings to a single body as a self.
For the enlightened being, the mind is the Buddha-nature, & for the Buddha nature, one is all & all is one. The Buddha-nature can be one candle, & can also be many candles, in fact even infinite number of candles that can all be used to lit other candles. In the absolute mind there is no concept of time, space or numbers; because from the viewpoint of the absolute, all time, space & numbers are also not apart from it. That is how the Bodhisattvas can be reborn in many manifestations at the same time. Although they appear to be reborn, in reality nothing is born or dies. It is like an illusionist who creates many illusionary beings. Can these unreal beings be said to born & die? Likewise, manifestations of the enlightened ones appear & disappear all the time for the sake of teaching sentient beings, but the Buddha-nature remains unmoved.

This is Dhamma from the unborn mind; hope it will clear your doubts, sadhu.

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